Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to solar power systems and more specifically to a method and system for optimizing the configuration of a solar power system.
Description of the Related Art
Solar power systems have provided a source of renewable energy for decades. A typical solar power system includes a set of solar panels that may be installed on a variety of target surfaces, such as, e.g., the roof of a residence. Prior to installation, a designer must configure the solar power system by determining the placement and the type of solar panels to be installed on the target surface. Once the configuration of the solar power system is determined, a set of solar panels may be physically mounted to the target surface according to that configuration.
One problem with the conventional installation process described above is that typical designers may have limited knowledge of solar power systems, and, thus, may not determine a configuration that results in optimal performance of the solar power system. This problem is compounded by the fact that solar power system performance is notoriously non-linear, and, thus, very sensitive to shading. Consequently, even small changes in solar panel shading from what is expected may cause the performance of the solar power system to decrease dramatically. Furthermore, configuring solar power systems manually is both time-consuming and expensive and can be difficult given that target surfaces are often space-constrained.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an improved technique for configuring a solar power system.